A viscous, elongated creature with the body of a large crow, the skull of a man, and a gaping mouth full to the brim of sharp teeth shrieks down at a group of children, as they try desperately to escape on a… unicorn? The landscape is bleak, all blacks and greys, aside from the illuminated title: Night Terror. A bold, visual introduction from John Kenn Mortensen to what is sure to be as sinister and uncanny a collection as his other books including A Christmas Bestiary.
Night Terror, published by Fantagraphics, and created by Danish cult illustrator Mortensen, is a collection of line drawings representing the creatures that haunt our dreams when the night time comes and darkness falls. This is a deliciously creepy collection for horror fans, and indeed, fans of Mortensen’s work in general. Since Night Terrorwas published in 2023, Mortensen has also been responsible for Nightmare Factory, which is of a similar, one-page vignette style; something that is now becoming Mortensen’s staple.
Montensen’s opening statement is enough to send chills down reader’s spines: “I spend my time going back and forth between wakefulness and sleep: From the world I share with you and everyone else, to a place only I have access to. A place of monsters. When I go to sleep, I bring to my dreams leftovers from the waking world. When I leave the landscapes of the night, I try to bring back as many of the monsters as I can. This is a book of those monsters.” Yikes. It’s great to get this mini segment from Mortensen, who’s writing in this graphic novel is otherwise limited to one sentence descriptions of his sinister scenes. It shows just how equally he is able to manipulate his wordsmithery to be as twisted as dark as his sketches.
There’s something almost whimsical about the dark and twisted drawings, which actually makes them even more chilling. This is a clever strategy by Mortensen, to combine the whimsical and innocent with the horrific and uncanny. The children that Mortensen sketches look like they could come right from the pages of Alice in Wonderland, Oliver Twist, or similar comforting classics. Yet, the creatures that encircle them tell us we’re in another realm entirely, far away from the lulling world of bedtime stories.
Some favourites to bring attention to are the stark spread featuring a boy waiting by a lamppost, surrounded by marionettes of clowns creeping down from the sky – but who is holding their strings? Equally terrifying is page 27’s labyrinthian abandoned house, complete with smashed windows, twisted tree roots curling around each nook and cranny, and from the tree, breaking through the house’s roof, branches and branches of small people imprisoned in cages.
What’s so exciting about illustrations like these is how open to interpretation they are. On one look, the abandoned house might denote hell, with its evil prisoners trapped for all eternity. On another look, the house almost looks like it’s being digested slowly by the vines it is covered in. On another, you notice the smiling family to the right, and wonder what their part in this is.
Grisly, uncanny and horrific in all the right ways, John Kenn Mortensen’s Night Terror is a terrifying treat for those who dare to peek.
John Kenn Mortensen (W/A) • Fantagraphics Books, $29.99
Review by Lydia Turner
